Election Reform
- Supports election reform that guarantees no citizen is disenfranchised.
- Supports the determination of the root causes of low voter turnout in Lucas County and determine and apply best practices to address these causes
- Supports reforms to ensure that the Lucas County Board of Elections exhibits responsible management of elections including adequate and continuous training of poll workers, fair and equitable distribution of the population among polling places and precincts and voting machines within precincts, as well as thorough and accurate counting of all votes.
- Supports election reform that promotes sufficient pre-election planning to mitigate long election lines and provides post-election evaluation of each election.
- Supports legislation that will permit the appointment of qualified electors who are not members of either of the two major political parties as precinct judges and election officer.
- Supports activities that improve voter confidence and minimize election misinformation.
- Supports reform to eliminate the purging of voter rolls based on non-voting.
- Supports activities that stop voter suppression and increase voter turnout both through our own efforts and through actively seeking partnerships with other organizations with similar goals.
- Supports same day voter registration and automatic voter registration.
- Supports the expansion of Voter ID laws to include identifying documents other than picture ID for example: utility bill, court summons, government licensure etc..
Local Government Reform
- Supports adequate, fair and equitable funding for local government programs, infrastructure, and services.
The Environment
- Supports organizational, financial and technical methods of preventing environmental pollution.
- Supports cooperation and coordination among governmental agencies and the private sectors involved with water management, air quality, toxic waste issues and land use that include the principals of smart growth and public participation in land development decisions plus other services not pertaining directly to the environment, such as economic development.
- Encourages personal responsibility toward environmental conservation through public awareness and education.
- Supports efforts to protect the Lake Erie watershed for recreation, commercial fishing and as a source of drinkable water for municipalities through regulation and legislation.
- Support protection of the Great Lakes from diversion of water to other parts of the country.
- Supports regulations for the safe transportation of hazardous materials.
Education
- Encourages all schools receiving public funds to be accountable to the public through elected officers and to comply with state education standards.
- Supports efforts to prevent students from being bullied and ensure that all public schools are welcoming to all students of all gender identities, races and ethnic backgrounds.
- Encourages our elected officials to make it a priority to pass legislation for equitable and adequate funding of public education for all children in Ohio.
- Supports state education standards that support academic freedom and a safe environment to teach.
- Support curtailing the arming of teachers.
Domestic Violence
- Supports community programs to prevent violence and to support victims
- Supports the active role of government and social institutions, in preventing violent behavior through education, and by offering legal, social, and healthcare programs to stop domestic violence.
- Supports adequate, fair, and equitable allocation of public monies for these programs.
Health Care
- Supports making universal healthcare a reality in Ohio.
Supports local cooperation and coordination among local governmental agencies and medical providers to expand programs for the uninsured and underinsured.
- Supports affordable prescription drugs available to everyone.
Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Services
- Supports the principle that children under the age of 18 are not adults and that their treatment within the juvenile justice system should relate to their stage of development. No child should be held in adult prisons or detention facilities.
- Supports the use, development, and coordination of local diagnostic and treatment resources for children at risk as well as juvenile offenders.
- Supports programs assisting youth who are transitioning from foster home placement to the adult world.
- Supports the development of a comprehensive county system of children’s services for the prevention and treatment of problems in children at risk, including juvenile offenders. Such a comprehensive system would require the intentional collaboration of families, schools, libraries, and other community agencies and the courts to use the resources of the extended community to give each child a continuum of care and education.
- Supports an individualized plan for children under the age of 18 and their families who are involved in the juvenile justice system for rehabilitation.
Responsible Gun Ownership
- Supports universal background checks, training in order to carry a gun, a ban on assault weapons*, secure containment and storage of firearms in the home and elsewhere, limits to the number of rounds in a magazine, limit to the number of magazines able to be purchased.
- Supports eliminating loopholes for the sales of firearms at gun shows.
- Supports implementation of red flag laws.
Campaign Finance Reform
- Supports methods of financing political campaigns to ensure the public’s right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enables candidates to compete more equitably for public office and allow maximum citizen participation in the political process.
NOTE RE: Assault Weapons
There was a lot of discussion at the advocacy program general meeting about our Responsible Gun Ownership position. The concern of some members was the use of the term assault weapons in the position statement. There is controversy about the term because it is not precise; it can or cannot refer to a multitude of weapons (1). It has no technical definition. Nothing classifies a gun as an assault weapon (2). However, states that have bans provide a definition in the bans, gun control groups also have created their own definitions of an assault weapon. The expired federal ban also specifically defined the guns covered. These seem like possible solutions to this imprecision, but specific and unique definitions eliminate weapons that are similar in use and effect but not named or are so broad that result in a total gun ban, which is impractical. During that meeting it was decided that we would revamp our position after the general meeting that focused on responsible gun ownership. From that meeting we learned about gun safety and the new law that does not require training or special licensing for concealed carry. We discovered that the issue likely would require more time and discussion than occurred at that general meeting. Our advocacy statement about responsible gun ownership is a response to gun violence, especially mass shootings, especially in schools.
But research (3) supports another part of our position statement referring to “limits to the number of rounds in a magazine” as a deterrent to mass shootings. It may well be that that statement does what we tried to do using the term assault weapon. With that in mind I propose that we eliminate the words assault weapon from our statement.
1. Assault weapon. (2024, April 21). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_weapon
2. CNN report June 9, 2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/politics/assault-weapons- definition-explainer/index.html
The term does not have a technical definition and is used by some to refer to all types of guns – including rifles, shotguns and pistols. There is no specific caliber size, speed at which the weapon fires or other technical measure used to classify a gun as an assault weapon.
3. Rand—Gun Policy in America https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/ban- assault-weapons/mass-shootings.html
(Research) found that states with high-capacity magazine bans had a significant 48-percent reduction in mass shooting incidents, and a suggestive 33-percent reduction in mass shooting fatalities. [Using data from 1984 to 2017, Webster et al. (2020)